Poultry feeder



R. T. PAYNE POULETRY FEEDER Filed Feb. 9, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet lEwig/Hangs Oct. 1, 1946. R. T. PAYNE I POULTRY FEEDER Filed Feb. 9,194'5 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Oct. 1, 1946 UNITED STATES rnrgnrvorrxcgRobert T. Ivayne, Upland, Calif. Application February 9, 1945, SerialNo..577,01'7.

, Y e 1 i This invention relates to poultry feeders,

An object of the invention is the provision of a poultry feeder whichmaybe placed indoors or outdoors, and in which a hopper is providedhav.- ing .a narrow slot placed above a feeding trough with meansprojecting through the narrow slot.

supporting members of the screen, said resilient supporting membersextending throughy a nar-- row slot and agitating the feed in the binand causing the feed to be discharged from said narrow slot.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a poultry feederhavinga vertically dis- 'posedv hopper with an elongated narrow slotV atits lower end spaced abovea feeding trough, the lower end of the hopperbeing located centrally of the trough so that chickens may feed atopposite sides of the hopper, a screen being placed over the exposedportion of the trough to prevent the poultry from entering saidtrough,resilient wires having U-shaped portions located in the narrowslot for supporting the rscreens above the feed in the trough', saidscreens and theY U-shaped portions of theresilient supporting meansbeing agitated'duringfeeding so thatthe feed in the trough adjacent theopening will be agitated for causing the feed to pass through theopening into the trough.

' This invention will be best understood from a consideration of thefollowing detailed descrip'- tion, in view of the accompanying drawingsforming a part of the specification; nevertheless, it is to beunderstood that the invention is notconlined to the disclosure, beingsusceptibler to changes and modifications as define 11o-materialdeparture from the salient features of the invention as expressed in theappended claims.

In the drawings: Y y Fig. 1 is an end View in elevation of a poultryfeeder constructed according to the principles of my invention. p z

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side view showing the the provi- 49lentering,.the trough.

8v Claims. (Cl. 119-54) Y 2 v f roof of the hopper of the feeder in openposition.

Fig. 3 is a side view of the poultry feeder. f Fig. 4 is an enlargedtransverse vertical section of the feeder. v l l Fig. 5 is a fragmentaryview in perspective showing a portion of the resilient supportingmembei' for a screen. v

Referring more particularlyto the drawings, I and II represent endsupports.' Thesersupports are v as shown at I2 to provide a pair of feetI3.V y A feeding troughgenerally designated by the numeral I5 has abottom I6-secured at its ends to the end walls I0 and il. Sidewalls Ilare secured to the bottom I6 along the longitudinal side edges and risea short distance above the bottom to maintain the feed on said bottom. Atriangularly shaped division bar i8 is secured centrally of the troughfor a purpose which wiil be presently explained. l

` A hopper 2i) has side Walls 2l which are identical in construction andend walls 22 which are likewise of the same. coniiguration. The lowerportions of these side walls..2 are tur-ned inwardly and terminate abovethe upper edge of the division bar I8 to provide anarrowelongated slot,generally designated by the'numeral 23 through which feed is radapted.tozbe dischargedinto the trough I5 and upon the triangularly shaped barI3 so that the feed will fall to the bottom sections of the trough ateach side of the elongated slot 23. The end walls 22 of the hopper 2B`are secured in any approved manner to the'erid supports Iii and I I. A,

. A roof generally designated by the numeral 25 is mounted, on the'. topofthe hopper 2o. `YThe roof is formed Vof gables with eaves 2E extendingsufciently beyond the coniines of theside walls 2I so thatthey willproject over the side `edges ofthe trough I5 and prevent water or snowfrom Triangularly shaped vend walls rZ'I are secured to the gabled roof25 and the lOWeI edges 2,8,ofl theseend walls of the roof rest Aupon theupperedges of the end walls 22 of the hopper. l

It will be noted from Fig.y 1 that the side walls 2| extend above theupper edge of the end walls so that the two sections of the roof willrest on theupper edges of said side walls. `As shown more"particularlylinvlig. 4, it will be seen that the upper endsjofthe side walls 2i varesheared off at an angle to conform to the angular disposition of Vthesections of the `roof 25. Thus, the roof, when it is irl place,completely encloses the topv ofthe hopper 2D. lTheroof 25 issuptriangularly `shaped and Vare ycut away 3 ported by strap hinges 3B.One end of each strap hinge at each end of the hopper is pivotallyconnected at 3| on an end wall 22 of the hopper. The other end of thestrap is pivotally connected at 32 with the end walls 21 of the roof 25.By this construction the roof may be moved to an open position as shownin Fig. 2 from the position illustrated in Fig. 1. A latch 33 ispivotally mounted at 34 at one or both of the end walls 22 and thislatch is adapted to engage an eye 35 projecting from an end wall 21 ofthe roof 25 for maintaining the roof in closed position until it isdesired to open the same to supply feed to the hopper 2|.

A screen generally designated by the numeral 4B is applied to each sideof the lower reduced portion 4| of the hopper 20 and above Vthe exposedportions of the feeding trough |5. Each screen is formed of a pair ofparallel rods 42 and 43 connected together with transverse rods 44. Therods 44 are spaced a sufficient distance apart so that poultry mayobtain the feed from the trough I5, although the screens will preventthe poultry from standing in the trough.

A plurality of resilient wires 45 are secured to the inner face of sidewalls 2| of the hopper 20. These resilient wires extend downwardly asshown in Fig. 4 and contact with the walls 2| and then contact with theinclined side walls 48 of the hopper. The wires pass through Vtheelongated slot 23 and then are bent in a U- shaped manner to provide anexteriorly disposed leg 49 in the trough I5. The bight portion 50 iscurved where the resilient wire extends through the elongated opening.The extreme free end of each leg 49 is provided with a U-shaped seat 5|to receive the rod 42 of the screen 48. The U- shaped members 5| areformed on or suitably secured to the rods 42 in any approved manner.Thus, it will be seen that the screens 40 are resiliently supported bythe spaced resilient Wires 45 which extend downwardly through the hopper20, then outwardly through the elongated opening 23 in the lower end ofthe hopper.

The feed is supplied to the hopper 20 by raising the roof 25 as shown inFig. 2. Some of the feed will pass through the elongated opening 23 atthe bottom of the hopper. The triangularly shaped bar IB will cause thefeed to be distributed at both sides of the bar to the trough I5 so thatthe poultry may feed at either side of the device.

The screens 40 through which the poultry may feed are resilientlysupported above the trough l5, and when the poultry is feeding thesescreens are agitated causing the resilient wires to be agitated and thebight portions 50 on the wires 45 are also agitated within the narrowslot 23. The agitation of the bight portion and likewise the wires 45within the hopper tends to maintain the fed in motion at the lower endof the hopper so that the feed will not clog in the reduced lower endthereof. The movement of the bight portions 50 in the narrow slot willcause the feed to be discharged into the trough so that sufficient feedwill be discharged into the trough.

' I claim:

1. A poultry feeder comprising a trough, a hopper having a narrowelongated opening in the bottom thereof, means supporting the h'opperabove the trough, a screen through which the heads of the poultry mustpass to obtain the feed in the trough, and means supporting the innerend of the screen, said supporting means 4 extending through theelongated opening and into the hopper and adapted to agitate the feed atthe opening for aiding in discharging the feed from the hopper, saidscreen being agitated during feeding.

2. A poultry feeder comprising a trough, a hopper having a narrowelongated slot -in the bottom thereof, means supporting the trough andhopper so that the slot will be located above the trough, a screenhaving feeding passages and movably mounted over the trough, and wiressecured at one end to an inner wall of the hopper and projecting throughthe slot, the other ends of the wires being secured to one end of thescreen so that during feeding the supporting wires will be agitated inthe slot by the movable screen to cause the feed to be projected throughthe slot.

3. A poultry feeder comprising a trough, a hopper having a narrowelongated slot in the bottom thereof, means supporting the trough andhopper so that the slot will be located above the trough, a screenhaving feeding passages and movably mounted over the trough, and wiressecured at one end to an inner wall of the hopper andprovided with aU-shaped portion disposed in the slot, and means connecting the otherends of the wires to one edge of the screen. said screen being supportedby the wires so that when the poultry is feeding the screen and theU-shaped portions will be agitated to cause the feed to be dischargedthrough the slot.

4. A poultry feeder comprising a trough, a hopper having a narrowelongated slot in the bottom thereof, means supporting the trough andhopper relative to each other so that the slot will be located above thetrough, a screen movably mounted in the trough, and resilient meanssupporting the screen above the bottom of the trough and adapted to beagitated when the poultry is feeding through the screen, a portion ofthe resilient supporting means extending through the slot and adapted tobe agitated by the screen for causing the feed to be discharged throughthe slot.

5. A poultry feeder comprising a trough, a hopper having a narrowelongated slot` in the bottom thereof, means supporting the trough andhopper relative to each other so that the slot will be located above thetrough, a screen movably mounted in the trough, a roof hingedly mountedon the upper end of the hopper and having eaves extending over thetrough to protect the same against the weather, and a resilient meansprojecting through the slot and connected to the screen for supportingthe screen, said screen adapted to be agitated during feeding foragitating the resilient means to cause the feed to be discharged fromthe slot.

6. A poultry feeder comprising a trough, a hopper having a narrowelongated slot in the bottom thereof, means supporting the trough andhopper relative to each other so that the slot will be located above thetrough, a screen movably mounted in the trough at each side of the slot,and spaced resilient means supported by each opposite wall of the hopperand projecting through the slot, the resilient means below the slothaving upwardlyrdisposed extensions, the extensions along one edge ofthe screen being connectedto one screen, the other extensions beingconnected to the other screen, said resilient means where passingthrough the slot being adapted to be agitated by the screen duringfeeding.

7. A poultry feeder comprising a trough, a` hopper having a narrowelongated slot in the bottom thereof, means supporting the trough andhopper relative to each other so that the slot will be located above thetrough, a screenl movably mounted in the trough, and spaced resilientWires having one end connected to an inner Wall of the hopper, each Wirehaving a U-shaped portion at its other end, the other free end of theWire being connected to the screen for resiliently supporting saidscreen, the bight of each U- shaped portion being disposed in the slotso that during feeding the screen and the bights Will be agitated, andthe agitation of the bights in the slot causing the feed to bedischarged from said slot.

' 6 8. A poultry feeder comprising a trough, a hopper having a narrowelongated slot in the bottom thereof, means supporting the trough andhopper relative to each other so that the slot will be located above thetrough, a screen mov- Y ably mounted in the trough, and spaced resilientmeans projecting through the slot for movably supporting the screenthrough Which the poultry must feed, movement of the screen causingagitation of the resilient means in the slot and the feed in the hopperwhereby the feed Will be discharged from said slot.

ROBERT T. PAYNE.

